Interview :: Green Buzzard

Photo: Savannah Van Der Niet

Having featured one of our favourite Australian psych bands Green Buzzard a few times on Little Indie - you can also check out their latest track 'Phantasy Girl' here - we now grab frontman Paddy Harrowsmith for a few words.

This interview originally appeared in music blog The Five Ws Of. For this and more music profiles, you can reach their site with a click here.

Words: Regina Valdameri

WHO are they?

“Essentially, Green Buzzard started as just myself writing some tunes with a guitar on my farm in Oberon (New South Wales, Australia) where my mum lived. I never wanted it to be a solo bedroom project so I put a band together. I enlisted a bunch of like minded guys, some of which I went to school with and others I’d played music with before or just met at a pub somewhere. We’d all played in bands around Sydney prior to Green Buzzard. We’ve been playing together as a 5 piece now for about 6-9 months although I guess I’ve been writing and recording Green Buzzard songs in one way or another for about 2 or so years now.”

WHAT are they singing about?

“Lyrically, I’ve always tried to write about things that are true to me. Every song starts with a theme that means something to me at the time, be that nostalgia, relationships, egoism, or sometimes just complete inane dribble.”

“Musically I always wanted Green Buzzard to be an amalgamation of influences I’ve grown up with. These consisted largely of British music, mainly the melodies and guitar pop structures of bands like Jesus & Mary Chain, The La’s and Ride and blending it with my love of 90’s Americana music, primarily the sonic lo-fi “fuzzy” side of alternative college rock bands like Guided By Voices, Dinosaur Jr, The Replacements and Smashing Pumpkins just to name a few.”



“Originally, I wanted Green Buzzard to be a superhero, with his sidekicks Phantasy Boy and Phantasy Girl fighting the evil Dr Queazy and his army of Zoo Fly’s on Planet X. The first song I ever wrote for Green Buzzard was “Phantasy Girl” which was about Green Buzzard trying to save her from being kidnapped. That idea died after the first song because I got over it and also it’s absolutely ridiculous.”

WHERE are they from?

“I started playing in my first band around Sydney at the age of 17. I saw some great bands growing up that had a massive influences on my guitar playing. It wasn’t until I moved to my farm in Oberon with my Mum that I started writing songs for myself for the first time. Being alone on a secluded farm with no one around for days on end enabled me to experiment with new sounds and ideas and ultimately led to me writing a bunch of songs that would become the first Green Buzzard tunes. I owe a lot to that little farm.”

WHY are they called ‘Green Buzzard’?

“Les Claypool’s Flying Frog Brigade – Buzzards of Green Hill.”

WHEN can I see them live?

“We just played our first show [in July] which was a massive milestone, considering I’ve been writing these tunes for so long now. Our next show [was] in Brisbane for Big Sound and we’ve got our first tour coming up with Bad//Dreems, who are an Australian band I massively admire right now. They’re doing great things.”

Remaining tour dates w/Bad//Dreems:
OCTOBER
16 Woolly Mammoth, Brisbane, QLD (18+)
17 Miami Shark Bar, Minimum Wage Club, Gold Coast (18+)
24 Northcote Social Club, Melbourne, VIC (18+)
25 Northcote Social Club, Melbourne, VIC (18+)
30 The Odd Fellow, Fremantle, WA (18+)
31 Amplifier Bar, Perth, WA (18+)



HOW can I get to know them better?

Listen/Watch: Website
Like/Follow: FACEBOOK